Mario Mandžukić

Mario Mandžukić (born 21 May 1986) is a Croatian football coach and a former player who is an assistant coach of the Croatia national team.

As a player, he played as a forward and became known for his aggressiveness, defensive contribution, and aerial prowess.

In 1992, he joined German club TSF Ditzingen, near Stuttgart.

Upon returning to his home country, the newly independent Croatia, he spent the period between 1996 and 2003 at NK Marsonia before spending a season at the city minnows NK Željezničar.

Starting his career in 2004 at hometown club Marsonia, Mandžukić then moved to two Zagreb-based clubs: NK Zagreb in 2005 and Dinamo Zagreb in 2007.

The next season, he returned to Marsonia and in the summer of 2005 he made a move to NK Zagreb.

At the international level, Mandžukić debuted for Croatia in November 2007 under manager Slaven Bilić.

In the summer of 2007, Mandžukić was bought by the Croatian powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb for €1.3 million as a replacement for their Arsenal-bound star striker Eduardo da Silva.

Upon his arrival, he managed to secure his spot in starting eleven, playing mostly in the position of second striker.

On 4 October 2007, he put on an impressive performance against AFC Ajax in Amsterdam when he scored two goals in extra-time to secure Dinamo's 2–3 away win, as Dinamo qualified for the group stage of 2007–08 UEFA Cup.

He finished his first season at Dinamo with 12 goals and 11 assists throughout 29 matches, but also had a poor discipline record, collecting eight yellow cards.

He was Croatian First League top goalscorer in the 2008–09 season.

He started the 2008–09 season with two goals against Linfield in a qualifier for the UEFA Cup.

In the 2008–09 Prva HNL, Mandžukić was the league's top goalscorer, bagging 16 goals in 28 appearances.

He also scored three goals in the season's UEFA Cup.

After the 2008–09 season had finished, he was linked with German side Werder Bremen, but the €12 million offer was rejected by the Dinamo board, who were of opinion that Mandžukić's worth was at least €15 million.

He started the 2009–10 season by scoring a goal in a Champions League play-off match against Red Bull Salzburg.

Mandžukić received red card in the last minutes of the game.

After he told the referee that he got hit by the bottle that somebody threw from the stands, he gave him his second yellow card and ruled him out of the game.

On 17 September 2009, after Dinamo lost 2–0 at home to Anderlecht in Europa League, Mandžukić was controversially fined €100,000 after being accused of poor effort.

It was the first time in the history of the club that a player was financially fined.

On 20 September, Mandžukić captained Dinamo to a 6–0 victory against HNK Rijeka in Prva HNL.

In a post–match interview, Mandžukić rejected any speculation about him leaving the club after the fine, stating that it was his childhood dream to captain the Dinamo side and that he gives his best in any match he plays for the club.

During that season, he appeared in 24 league matches, scoring 14 goals.

He appeared in five Europa League matches as well.

After joining VfL Wolfsburg in 2010, Mandžukić moved to fellow-Bundesliga side Bayern Munich in 2012.

He helped Bayern win their first continental treble (Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League) in his first season, and became the first Croatian to score in a Champions League final.

This was the season of his rise in the Croatia national team as well, as he collected eight caps in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.

On 14 July 2010, Mandžukić signed for VfL Wolfsburg for a fee believed to be around €7 million.

Upon his arrival, in the first half of the 2010–11 season, he played regularly but mostly coming on as a substitute.

He participated in four major tournaments with his national side, Euro 2012, the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, and the 2018 World Cup, reaching the final of the latter tournament, after which he retired from international football.

In total, he made 89 international appearances and, with 33 goals, he is the Croatia national team's second-most prolific scorer of all time.

He was named Croatian Footballer of the Year in 2012 and 2013.

Mandžukić is also one of the players to score in both the Champions League Final and World Cup Final.

After winning a domestic double the following season, he left Bayern for La Liga club Atlético Madrid in 2014, and a season later was signed by Juventus in the Serie A.

Mandžukić won four league titles and three Coppa Italia titles with Juventus, and reached the 2017 Champions League Final.

Mandzukic also scored a goal and an own goal in the 2018 World Cup final, becoming the first football player to score an own goal in a World Cup final.

Mandžukić started playing football in Germany, where he and his parents relocated to due to the Croatian War of Independence.

He left Juventus in December 2019 for Qatari side Al-Duhail and returned Italy in January 2021, signing with AC Milan.

He retired in September of the same year.